Increasing demand across virtually all aspects of modern life drives integrated circuit technology. Demands for smaller, cheaper, faster, include packaging of integrated circuits. In general, an electronic package is defined as the housing and interconnection of integrated circuits, also referred to as ‘semiconductor device’, ‘chip’ or ‘die’, to form an electronic system. The package should provide a structure physically supporting the chip and protecting the chip from the environment, a means for removing heat generated by the chips or system, and/or electrical connections to provide signal and power access to and from the chip.
Wire bonding technology is a technique used to make electrical connections within the package. Wire bonding may employ gold, aluminum, or copper wires. A wire is bonded at one end to the integrated circuit and at the other end to a next-level system such as a substrate, a lead frame, a printed circuit board, a ceramic substrate, or a flexible circuit board.
A technique of wire bonding is to form a ball bond on the chip and a stitch bond on the substrate. A ball is formed on a tail of the wire, which extends from the end of a capillary of a wire bonder, and is bonded to a bond pad of the chip under pressure by the capillary while heat and/or ultrasonic vibration are applied. After the ball bond is formed, a loop is formed in the wire by subsequent action of the capillary. The capillary deforms the wire against a bond position of the substrate, producing a wedge-shaped stitch bond. The cycle is then completed and the next ball bond can be formed.
The market trend continues to demand more functions in smaller form factors. Multi-functional device packaging requires finer bond pad pitches as well as pad-to-pad bonding capability. Finer pitches and pad-to-pad bonding face several serious issues including, wire damage and wire or ball shorts in pad-to-pad bonding. Wire bonding for pad-to-pad bonding is particularly difficult with bond pad pitches of 35 um or less. The finer pitches further exacerbate the formation of electrical shorts caused by smashed or deformed balls.
Across virtually all applications, there continues to be growing demand for increasing capacity and increasing performance of integrated circuit memory. The seemingly endless restrictions and requirements are no more visible than with products in our daily lives. Smaller and denser integrated circuits are expected in many portable electronic products as well as in many larger electronic systems. As the demand grows for smaller electronic products with more features, manufacturers are seeking ways to include more capacity within the same product dimensional form factors.
In order to solve these problems and promote pad-to-pad boning capability, we researched new technologies of assembly.
Thus, a need still remains for an integrated circuit package system to provide improved capacity and manufacturing yield within standard form factors. In view of the increasing demand for improved integrated circuits and particularly more capacity in small products at lower costs, it is increasingly critical that answers be found to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.